How Kolkata’s wait for Messi slipped into disorder - timeline of events

NEW DELHI: Kolkata has a contented of celebrating shot icons. On Saturday afternoon, that anticipation turned into choler arsenic Lionel Messi’s scheduled quality ended amid upset astatine the Salt Lake Stadium.The city’s agelong hold to spot the Argentine prima did not past long. Messi, who is successful India arsenic portion of his GOAT Tour, was forced to extremity his thigh of honour astatine the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan aft the assemblage surged towards the field. Bottles were thrown from the stands, and information unit escorted him disconnected the crushed wrong minutes.

Crowd surge derails programme

What was meant to beryllium a memorable time for shot fans successful the City of Joy turned into confusion, with “less of Messi” and much of what respective spectators described arsenic a “royal mess”, arsenic bid wrong the stadium broke down.Many fans, including those who bought high-priced tickets, said they did not get to spot Messi astatine all, either successful idiosyncratic oregon connected the elephantine screens, adjacent aft waiting for hours. A choky information setup and the beingness of politicians and different dignitaries successful cardinal seating areas further constricted visibility, adding to the choler among spectators. The World Cup-winning skipper reached the stadium astir 11.30 americium on with long-time onslaught spouse Luis Suárez and Argentina teammate Rodrigo De Paul.

His conveyance was parked adjacent to the touchline. When helium stepped onto the ground, helium was surrounded by VIPs, organisers, celebrities and information staff, leaving fans successful the stands struggling to spot him. Messi walked lone a abbreviated region connected the tract and waved concisely astatine the assemblage arsenic chants of "Messi, Messi" rang retired crossed the stadium. Soon, spectators realised that the footballer remained enclosed by information and invited guests, making him hard to spot from galore parts of the galleries.

Several fans said adjacent the elephantine screens did not amusement him clearly. Anger grew arsenic it became wide that the Argentine prima would not implicit the planned thigh of the stadium. Chants of "We privation Messi" became louder. Messi past turned backmost midway and was taken disconnected the tract good earlier the scheduled extremity of his appearance. Once quality dispersed that helium had near early, tempers flared. Bottles were thrown from the stands onto the field, followed by integrative chairs.

Sponsor banners and hoardings were pulled down, fibreglass seats were broken, and immoderate spectators tried to teardrop down barricades to participate the ground. Repeated announcements implicit the nationalist code strategy asking unauthorised radical to permission the crushed were mostly ignored, arsenic fans continued shouting slogans against the organisers and the authorities sports department. Within minutes, hundreds of spectators spilled onto the pitch, pulling down impermanent tents and damaging instrumentality placed adjacent the boundary. Police struggled to power the crowd, starring to the deployment of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) wrong the stadium. Ticket prices ranged from Rs 4,500 to Rs 10,000, with galore fans arriving aboriginal successful the greeting hoping to spot the footballer closely. The upset besides led to the aboriginal extremity of the programme, leaving respective invited guests, including Bollywood histrion Shah Rukh Khan, erstwhile India cricket skipper Sourav Ganguly and West Bengal main curate Mamata Banerjee, incapable to instrumentality portion arsenic planned.“Here, a solid of acold portion costs Rs 150–200, yet we couldn’t adjacent drawback a glimpse of Messi. People person spent a month’s wage to spot him. I paid Rs 5,000 for the summons and came with my lad to ticker Messi not politicians. The constabulary and subject unit were taking selfies, and the absorption is to blame. There wasn’t adjacent drinking h2o available,” an aggravated fan, Ajay Shah, told quality bureau PTI.

Prime organiser detained

Police connected Saturday detained Satadru Datta, the main organiser of the Lionel Messi shot lawsuit astatine the Salt Lake Stadium, aft the chaos forced the World Cup-winning skipper to permission the tract early.Datta was detained implicit alleged mismanagement of the lawsuit from Kolkata airport, wherever helium had gone to spot disconnected Messi and his entourage arsenic they departed for Hyderabad."We are looking into whether determination was immoderate mismanagement from the organiser's side, which led to the chaos astatine the stadium. He has been detained, and the constabulary person present brought the concern nether control," West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar said.Kumar added that the organiser had fixed a written assurance that summons wealth would beryllium refunded to spectators who were disappointed.Earlier successful the day, histrion Shah Rukh Khan met Lionel Messi successful Kolkata during the GOAT India Tour 2025. Messi arrived successful India with long-time onslaught spouse Luis Suárez and Argentina teammate Rodrigo De Paul.Messi had earlier visited India successful 2011, erstwhile helium led the Argentina nationalist squad successful a lucifer against Venezuela astatine the Salt Lake Stadium successful Kolkata.